Always Forward: The Story of the Fire in My Chalice

When life seems to hold you back, God has a greater plan.

I was sitting near Jesus being taught by his Word. Suddenly, I awoke from the dream and called out to my parents, who were playing pinochle with my godparents in the next room. “Mommy! Daddy! Jesus wants me to be a priest!”

“Not my son,” my father replied. The smoke from his cigarette curled up toward the ceiling and faded away, and the game went on.

I was eight years old.Born into the turmoil of World War II while his father served the United States Army in France, Joseph Scerbo spent much ofhis early life trying to establish a connection with his father. He spent his entire lifetime, however, yearning for his heavenly Father.

As a Catholic priest, Father Joe shares his life-long journey of the human call to relationship through stories of God’s interwoven graces pouring into his life. To know Fr. Joe was to know joy, which makes the pain he encounters all the more surprising. Forty years in the healing ministry enabled him to share the realities of joy and pain, and the importance of healing through reconciliation.

As Fr. Joe tells his stories, your heart will open to share his prayer:
“Lord, open the doors you want to open,
close the doors you don’t want to open,
and place me in the center of your Perfect Will.”